Bride of the Ice King
by Ghostwriter9000
Summary: Sally had a simple purpose, which was to love and marry her creator:Jack. But she's not the first creation, and deep inside the icy mansion there are many secrets, secrets that have to do with her...and a coffin. Now she, and all of the other creations must sneak through the darkest corners of the ice mansion to discover who she really is. AU fanfic.
1. The Silhouette in the City

**Yes, here it is, as mentioned Red Dragonfly readers. Bride of the Ice King! And no, this has NOTHING to do with A****dventure Time! Yup, before Adventure Time, the word "Ice King" would have sounded pretty cool.** **Don't worry though, you don't have to read Red Dragonfly before you read this story, however, my OC (Torako) that appeared in Red Dragonfly is also in this story.** **Anyways, sit back and enjoy the story!**

**I don't own the characters from TNBC, I only own the plot line of this story and my OC'S.  
**

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Bride of the Ice King

Chapter 1: The Silhouette in the City

It was quiet that night, as usual. Not a sound could be heard on the lone ice glacier, or in the mansion sitting upon it. The only sounds that could be heard were the splashing of waves, hitting against the ever-drifting ice glacier. Although, if you listened very closely, you could hear the repetitive foot tapping of an impatient ice king, named Jack Skellington, waiting at the bottom of a small flight of stairs for his cohort to get dressed and go downstairs.

Jack, a tall thin skeleton, was very strange. He used to believe that magic was the answers to all his problems, but there was no liable proof. The only way he could find out for himself was to actually dabble in the arts of magic, and he specialized in a certain type of magic: ice magic.

He soon began to create experiments that he tried in his best ability to have a human-like structure, and then adding his personal touches to them. However, he quickly learned that magic wasn't the only solution to creating life, for all of his experiments were unstable in many ways.

But accepting cruel reality was never an easy task, especially when there was someone there to rub it in, and that someone's name was never mentioned in the Skellington household.

And he made sure, that that name wouldn't become known to his latest creation: Sally. The first of four other experiments to be created from the mixture of science and magic. Of course, Jack wasn't the only one who created her. He was assisted by the same person whose name was forbidden, and for Jack to ask for his help, was incredibly hard and humiliating, but soon that humiliation was more than he could bear.

So he built a mansion of ice atop an invincible and massive glacier, so he could escape the humiliation. And once he had drifted far enough, he continued to work on creating Sally. Her purpose? To marry Jack. Yes, his fifth creation Sally was created to be his wife, once she learned the basic fundamentals of life… and remembered something very important.

"Torako!" Jack shouted, "Hurry up; I just had an entire life flashback waiting for you!"

"Wow that must have been one long flashback, considering how old you are!" Torako shouted back, as she emerged from her room.

"I'm not that old! And speed it up; we need to extract Sally from the ice chambers!"

Of course, after a while, Torako began to ignore him as she sleepily strolled down the stairs, wearing a long, blood-red, tattered coat and a pair of black jeans. The whole thing was kept together by two rows of black buttons which were open at the top, showing a small bit of her collar bone. Sprouting out of the top of her head were black cat ears and a cat tail swished about behind her. Flowing behind her was long black hair that ended at the lower half of her back. And on her left eye was a spider web patterned eye-patch that had a thin scar creeping out from behind it.

"You slept in your clothes?" Jack asked.

Torako looked at Jack and gave him a smug look; her voice was filled with sarcasm.

"So did you…Girly-man…"

'Girly-man,' that was a nickname that had stuck with Jack for years. He thought that since Torako was his first creation, she'd have more respect, but she didn't. But neither science, nor magic can alter someone's personality.

But Jack didn't think he was girly, he did admit that he was more hygienic than most men, and he also understood women a bit more than them, but that didn't make him girly, did it?

Then Jack looked down at his midnight black suit and red scarf, as well as his matching top hat with a red band. It made him reconsider the slightest bit, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted by a loud obnoxious yawn from Torako.

"Let's go already," she said, still yawning. "It's 3:00A.M. and I want to go bed soon."

The two of them walked around the staircase and came to the door hidden behind it. On the other side of the door was a long stairwell that was surrounded by darkness. The only light came from the bottom, and that was a long way down. The two of them walked in silence.

Once they were about 1/3 of the way down, Torako broke the silence. "You know, Sally hasn't met you yet. Are you sure things are going to work out the way you wanted, because honestly, I have my doubts."

Jack didn't look at her; her previous remark wasn't at all comforting. Especially since, deep inside Jack was nerve-wracked. He had no idea how Sally would turn out, and he hadn't come down to meet her because he wanted to keep it a surprise. Even when he had sent Torako down to see her, and she said that Sally was doing fine; Jack still couldn't help but worry.

He took a deep sigh, and finally responded with a cold tone in his voice. "If she has any problems we can fix them, and don't you dare say we can't."

Torako flashed him a wicked smile. "Nice choice of words, Girly-man. I respect that, but there will be problems, there always are. And it's not about whether you can fix or if you can't, it's about whether you can handle it. Because if you can't, she may end up like you-know-who-"

"Don't talk about her!"

As Jack said this, his voice echoed throughout the narrow passage, and it caused Torako to jump a little bit.

"…Knock it off, you're gonna scare Sally." Torako said.

…

The lab was dark and cold. Chords of various machines were strewn all over the floor and the sounds of bubbling cauldrons filled the room. The only light source was from a large tank filled with icy water and a hologram of a city inside it.

Jack peered into the tank. "Why is there a hologram of a city inside?"

Torako smiled and walked up to the tank. "Sally likes it."

"Then where is Sally?"

Just as Jack asked, a silhouette of woman swam out from the bottom of the tank, happily admiring the hologram and occasionally trying to enter one of the hologram buildings. Then, she noticed Torako and swam to the edge of the tank and pressed her hands against the glass. Once closer, she was more easily seen. She had long red hair, light blue skin and numerous stitches along her body.

"Hi, Sally!" Torako gestured towards Jack. "This is the guy I was telling you about. His name is Jack. You know, the one who created you."

Jack smiled warmly until he got a better look at her and then he quickly averted his eyes.

He scooted close to Torako and elbowed her ribs, causing her to make some sort of gagging grunt.

"What was that for!" She whispered making sure Sally couldn't hear them.

"You could have told me she was n-n-na-"

"Yeah, well it helps her adjust to the cold. But why are you so shocked? You created her!"

"It's still weird, okay!"

"Yeah, yeah. Well come on, let's get Sally out of there. She's been in there for three months, and I doubt she's gonna want to be in there for a fourth."

Torako and Jack began to make their way to another door placed beside the tank; Jack grabbed a blanket placed on a table as they made their way towards the door.

The door led to a long tube that stretched out into the tank and then bent downward. From the bend down, there was water.

Curiously, Sally watched the two enter the tube and noticed Torako beckoned her to swim up into the tube. She followed the command, uncertain of what would happen to her.

Jack peered into the water, watching with much anticipation. Soon, he began to see a small patch of red in the water, and soon Sally's head bobbed out of the water.

Torako stretched her hands down to Sally and said, "Give me your hands; I'll pull you out of the water."

Sally obeyed and was swiftly lifted upward by Torako as Jack wrapped her up in a blanket.

"I'll get her clothes," Torako said, "Jack, you stay here with Sally." And upon saying so, Torako dashed out of the room.

Jack took Sally by the hand and helped her out of the room. Of course, it wasn't as easy he thought. Along the way Sally took awkward steps and nearly fell over numerous times. A simple action of walking from point A to point B would normally take one minute; however, for Jack and Sally, it took them five.

Exhausted, the two of them sat on an operating table, with their backs leaning against each other.

Sally looked up at Jack and gave him a slightly wicked smile, much like Torako's.

Jack laughed lightly. "Now who taught you how to smile like that?"


	2. Meet the Freaks

**Alright, here's chapter 2. Sorry it's so long (funny, that's the exact opposite of what I apologize for on Red Dragonfly).**

**Anyways, in this chapter you'll get to meet the cast of this story, including a member from Hollow Fields (great book by the way) everyone, give it up for Miss Notch, the maid! *cheers and applause* (If you have no idea who she is, go to Google images and type in 'Hollow Fields, Miss Notch').  
**

**And finally, from the new movie Dark Shadows, we have Dr. Hoffman *cheers and applause except from Barnabas who gives a 'boo'*  
**

**I do not own the characters from TNBC or Dark Shadows, they belong to Tim Burton.  
**

**Miss Notch belongs to Madeleine Rosca.  
**

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Chapter 2: Meet the Freaks

Torako came running back down the stairs in a frustrated state. As she was running, she turned her head and shouted behind her, "You can't see her yet, jerks!"

Jack covered Sally's ears, hoping she wouldn't pick up on anything Torako had just said.

"Who on earth are you yelling to!" Jack shouted.

Torako turned back around and growled. "Your crazy experiment, that's who, they're all whining about how they want to see Sally! Oh and here are Sally's clothes."

"All right," Jack said as he got off the operating table. "You help Sally get dressed and I'll go talk to the others."

Torako brushed pass Jack and helped Sally off the table, and just as Jack began to ascend the stairs, he turned back and asked Torako, "Can Sally talk at all yet?"

"I…can…a little…" Sally said, with a soft voice.

Jack was astonished. She learned so quickly. "Who taught you how to speak?" Jack asked.

"Tora…ko…"

"Nicely done." Jack smiled back at the two, and then continued to climb up the stairwell.

….

"JACK!" Those were the words shouted out by Jack's creations, which were all anxious to see Sally. However, since they were all under the stairwell, Jack couldn't see them too well. He could only hear them.

"Can we see her yet? I would prefer to see her at 2:22."

"A…a p-puppet…I must see her and make…a puppet…"

"I need more whiskey."

"Calm down!" Jack shouted. "You can all see her tomorrow night during dinner, understand? Now please, everyone, go back to bed!"

Everyone's voices quieted down, as they made their way up the stairs and back to their rooms in a soft murmur.

Jack leaned his back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. He took the moment of silence that he had as an opportunity to sleep for a few moments, but his sleep was soon disturbed by the soft clacking of shoes against the icy stairs.

He looked down into the abyss of the dark passageway and saw two bodies being illuminated by the moonlight as they ascended the stairs. However, the figures were soon shrouded once more in the darkness of the underside of the stair case. The only thing that kept its light was Torako's one glowing yellow cat eye.

"Come on," Torako said through the darkness, "let's go somewhere in the light, so you can see Sally in her dress."

Jack got up and followed Torako, who was holding Sally's hand as she led her through the darkness. Once they made it past the stairwell, they began to make their way to a window with a black spider web frame, towards the right of the staircase.

The light of the full moon was pouring out of the window, leaving a shadow of the web frame. However, the shadow was soon disrupted, when Sally passed through it and stopped under the lunar light.

It was there, that Jack got a better look at her. She was wearing a long black dress with a purple corset and trim which stopped just above her knees. On her arms were long, purple, fingerless gloves that had a spider web pattern on them. She also wore black boots with black and purple striped socks.

"Amazing!" Jack said. "I must give my thanks to Miss Notch for making such a wonderful dress!"

Sally stared at him curiously. "Miss…Notch..?"

Jack walked up to her. "Miss Notch is one of my experiments, or I should say, one of your sisters. You'll get to meet her, as well as the others tomorrow."

"You're gonna let Sally meet the others tomorrow? But that's so soon!" Torako exclaimed.

"Yes, I know. But everyone contributed in on making Sally, and it wouldn't be fair if they didn't get to see her. Besides, you know how they get when they're left without an answer."

Then Jack walked over and put his hand on her shoulder. "Sally, tomorrow you're going to dinner!"

….

Sally was excited to meet the others. She had just spent the day practicing speech with Torako in her bedroom, and she was nearly finished when the dinner bell had rung.

Of course, she was left without an escort since Torako had dashed out the door the moment she heard the bell. So Sally was left to follow the sounds of numerous people chatting amongst themselves and the clattering of silverware.

Sally made her out of Torako's cluttered (and slightly punk-goth) room, which was on the second floor and headed for the two, large, red curtains which concealed the dining room and held on to the ramps for support.

This room was also on the top floor, right in front of the stairs; on either side of it were bedrooms. Sally's bedroom was on the right side of the dining room along with Torako and Dr. Hoffman (all the room on that side was dubbed the name "West Side" by Torako). Across from them were Jack, Miss Notch and Mayor.

Just as Sally began to enter the room, she was nearly knocked over by Miss Notch, who was running cheerfully running away from Torako and holding a plate of salmon. However, Torako wasn't as cheerful. In fact, her expression was more like murderous.

"Give me back the fish, Notch!" Torako shouted.

"Nooo, you can't have it!" Miss Notch shouted back, in a very cheery voice.

The two of them were soon followed by Jack, who was wearing a jack-o-lantern apron and shouting "If you two don't knock it off before Sally comes, then you can both starve!" He then stopped about mid-sprint, when he noticed that Sally was already there.

He was completely embarrassed; he couldn't believe that Sally had witnessed him in a more…un- gentlemanly state. "O-oh, Sally, I didn't see you there, take a seat, won't you?"

Sally smiled at him warmly, and then made her way over to the massive dining table, which had six seats and couldn't fill the table. Sally took the seat on the open-end of the table, when a deep, American and female voice slightly startled her.

"You must be the new loony."

Sally looked behind her and saw a vampire woman with pale skin and fiery orange hair. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties and wore a purple dress with black polka dots, which reached up just beneath her chin, and stretched down to her knees.

"Excuse me?" Sally asked. "What do you mean by loony? And who are you?"

The woman took the seat next to her and poured some gin into an empty glass she was holding. "I'm Dr. Hoffman; I'm the psychiatrist for Jack's experiments, and I'm also a childhood friend of his."

"Psy...psychia..." Sally was struggling to pronounce the word, and she also didn't know the meaning.

Dr. Hoffman put her drink down and then lit up a cigarette. Then she turned to Sally and answered her question, as putrid smoke curled and twisted out of her mouth.

"A psychiatrist is a doctor that specializes in studies of the mind. You may not know it, but your 'brother' and 'sisters' are completely mentally unstable."

"What do you mean?" Sally asked.

Dr. Hoffman took a deep sigh, as more smoke escaped from her mouth. "Okay, I'll tell you, but I've got to make it quick before Jack comes back. He's not the type to endorse gossip."

She pointed her cigarette towards a triangular-shaped man with a pink face, one swirly eye (and one normal) a suit with a bunch of 2's on it and a second face on the back of his head. He was the only one at the table who had 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 knives and 2 napkins.

"See that man?" Dr. Hoffman said. "Jack created him to be one of his lab assistants and used the brain of a deceased Mayor who was knowledgeable in many fields of science; the same went for the body. However, little did Jack know that he had an odd obsession for the number 2, and unfortunately, when Jack had tried to fix that problem with magic, he only ended up making it worse. Now, he refuses for anyone to call him anything but 'Mayor,' and he'll collect anything that comes in pairs or has the number 2 on it."

Then Dr. Hoffman pointed toward Miss Notch, who was receiving a scolding from Jack. Miss Notch had red hair that stuck out on either side of her head and widow's peak that looked very much like Dracula's. Her face was very unusual from the others though. She had two, reflective, red circle-like buttons where her eyes should have been, much like a doll. But in fact, those were her eyes. And she was a doll; a doll that ran on steam and many springs and cogs. If you listened closely, you'd hear a ticking sound instead of a heartbeat and on her back was a little hole that had steam escaping from it.

She was wearing a French maid outfit (the little frilly hat included) except it was red where it should have been black and a pale yellow where it should have white. She also had a large pale yellow bow on her back, which ran down to her calves and knee-high red socks on suspenders.

"All right, Miss Notch is an interesting one. She used to be a sickly orphan that worked as puppeteer in France, until the age of 20. That was when Jack had met her. The poor thing was getting really sick, and Jack took pity on her and transferred her soul to a doll that Jack constructed, that way she could live longer. In exchange, she came and worked for Jack as a maid, which she happily obliged to. However, as a side effect from her new body, she soon became obsessed with creating puppets, and now she has to create a replica puppet of everyone in this house. Thankfully, Jack put that problem to a good use and casted a spell on each puppet. So now, if someone leaves the house, or is in danger, we'll know. So now, she's our sentry, instead of the maid (which I don't understand because he makes all of us work, so there was no reason to make her the official maid)."

Dr. Hoffman sighed once more; all of this talking was making her a bit exhausted (smoking and talking wasn't easy for her). The smoke from her mouth began to spiral about, and if you looked into the center of the spiral, you'd see Torako, who was now wearing a black tank top with a skull in the center and receiving a lecture from Jack (same as Miss Notch). She was also wearing the same jeans from yesterday, but now it had a chain hanging down from the belt loop.

"And finally *sigh* we have Torako. She used to be a big-time roughhouse (well, actually she still is) that lived in the city. And when she met Jack, she would fight him at any given opportunity, and she'd always win too. No one knew why she liked to fight Jack so much, but it was probably because he was one of the few people that were the same height as her. But one day, when Torako came to fight Jack again, he won, and after that she stopped fighting him. In fact, they became friends (well, aside from the sarcastic banter that they through at each other). So whenever Jack went into the city, Torako would find him and hang out with him. Though, one time, Torako didn't come. Jack became extremely worried and started to search for her. He found her in an alleyway. Apparently, Jack wasn't the only person she fought, and by the time Jack had found her…he was almost too late. He took her back to the lab and tended to her wounds although he couldn't save her left eye and he did add an extra addition to her body: cat ears and a tail. That way she could would have an extra awareness to things and be able to escape from a tough fight. However, because of the additional cat parts, she now believes that she can hear and speak to the voices of the living, such as plants and other animals. So now whenever she's near a plant or an animal she'll begin to talk to them. We're still not sure if she can really understand them or if she's crazy like the others."

Dr. Hoffman took out a portable ash tray in her pocket and put out her cigarette.

"Well, there you have it. Like my cigarette, this story is out. But that doesn't mean that it's over, in fact, now that you're here, we have a new chapter to this story."

She leaned in close to Sally and spoke to her slowly and sinisterly. "It'll only be a matter a matter of time before you end up like all the others-"

"Miss Julia Lola Hoffman!" Jack shouted, completely cross at Dr. Hoffman, with his hands on his hips. Miss Notch and Torako took Jack's newfound point of anger at the Dr. as an opportunity to sneak away from him.

"I believe there is a rule in this house about gossiping." Jack said, as he made his way over to where Sally and the Dr. were sitting. Once he was there, he looked at Dr. Hoffman dead in the eye.

"In exchange for staying here, I expect you to help my family with there… slight mental instability, not gossip about them and fill Sally's head with nonsense!"

"Calm down," Dr. Hoffman said, as she took a sip from her glass. "At least by telling her all of this, she knows what she's in for. Besides, now she knows there names."

Of course, Sally wasn't paying attention to Jack as he continued his frustrated rant towards Dr. Hoffman. She was more immersed in the conversation she was having with Miss Notch.

"Ooh, you must be Sally! I can't wait to create a puppet for you!" She said cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you, you must be Miss Notch." Sally then extended her hand for a handshake, to which Notch replied by shaking her hand vigorously, and nearly undoing the seams on her wrist. "I think I just felt my own brain rattle!" Sally thought.

"Oops," Miss Notch said, "I almost messed up the seams on the wrist that I sewed onto you!"

Sally looked at her puzzled. "You sewed me together?"

"Well, just some parts, but everyone helped, even Dr. Hoffman."

Sally blinked her eyes curiously. "Really?"

"Yup, it was the first night where she didn't have a cigarette in her hands _and_ she was sober at the same time!" Then Miss Notch glanced over her shoulder and noticed that Torako was nearby, so she made sure the following statement was said very loudly. "It was the first time Torako wasn't so cranky either!"

"Oh back off Notch! You've bugged me quite a bit already!" Torako hissed back.

Then, Mayor stepped between the two of them.

"Now, now ladies," he said, "we wouldn't want to give Jack another reason to be angry, like he is with Dr. Hoffman." Then he shouted extra loud making sure the Dr. would hear him. "But that's what she gets for gossiping, now, isn't it!"

"You are indeed correct, Mayor." Jack replied. "So I suppose it's time we told Sally the tale of 'Copa Cabana' don't you think?"

The Dr. rolled her eyes. "I knew you'd say that."


	3. A Skeleton's Bribe

**All right, here's ch. 3! In this chapter, we get a brief back story of Dr. Hoffman and a tie-in to Dark Shadows. And we even get to here Jack sing! (because it's Jack, why wouldn't he sing)?  
**

**Actually, the idea for Dr. Hoffman's back story came from this really old song I heard on the radio called "Copa Cabana."**

** Yeah, I know it's a really old song, but I like a lot of things from before 2000. If possible, please listen to "Copa Cabana" when Jack prepares to tell the back story.  
**

**Anyways, in the last chapter the ownership of characters and plot lines was established, so I'm not going to repeat myself.**

**Now, read on! **

**Warning: You'll be left on a really big cliffhanger, so prepare for it now.  
**

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Chapter 3: A Skeleton's Bribe

Jack slid across the room and grabbed Mayor's pair of forks (unable to live without the missing pair, Mayor quickly stole two more from Miss Notch and Torako).

He then gathered two empty wine glasses and began to tap the forks against them in a percussion-like rhythm. And even though Sally had no idea about what he was doing, everyone else seemed to and greatly anticipated Jack's unclear motives (except for the Dr., who seemed to loathe them).

But Sally soon noticed something emitting from the wine glasses that was very uncommon (if not impossible): sparks! They were coming off of the forks every time they hit the glasses and falling into the wine glasses, turning into a glowing fiery liquid. Sally stared at Torako (who was sitting across from her) and then pointed at the glasses with her jaw dropped (and by doing so she looked like a clueless tourist). But that was all she could do; she was completely speechless and what was happening wasn't explained in the textbooks she was forced to read earlier.

The glasses were soon filled up, and Jack had a mischievous look on his face, as if he was going to splash someone with the fiery juice. He then turned to Sally, and his lips curled up into a sinister smile, as he began to hover the glasses over her head and slowly began to turn them upside-down.

"N-no, don't!" Sally shouted, as the flaming liquid began to fall onto her head. In fear of the possible singing pain (that she only imagined she felt), she covered her eyes, and when she opened them… the room had changed… and it looked like a fancy 1920's-style club.

The table had changed too, it was round with a champagne-color table cloth, and only people who were sitting with her were Torako and Miss Notch; both of them were wearing 1920 dinner dresses and pearl necklaces. Torako's dress was black and Miss Notch's was red. Nearby were some more tables, a bar and some random people either sitting at them, or dancing on the dance floor.

"W-where are we? And why are you wearing those?" Sally asked, as she frantically looked around the room, which was now huge. It had several other tables nearby and a dance floor in the center. Above it was a chandelier whose color matched the table cloths and below was a black piano that Mayor was playing.

Miss Notch couldn't help but giggle at her younger sister's frantic reaction, however Torako could only pinch the bridge of her nose and mumble "Man, if Jack does anymore magic around Sally, she's gonna wind up in Dr. Hoffman's office!"

Awkwardly, Sally raised her hand as if she were in a classroom, and said "Can someone tell me what's going on? Or do I have to wait for a flock of flying pigs to come by first?"

Miss Notch patted her on the shoulder. "It's just a part of Jack's magic mademoiselle; with the help of those sparks he can use illusions to re-create moments in time. Tres magnifiqe, is it not? You see mademoiselle, those sparks never hit you. They pulled up at the last second and swirled all around the room, and as a result, the whole room has transformed into club from fifteen years ago."

Sally gave a small nod, but her eyes were still wide from shock. "Is that why you're both dressed like that too?" She asked.

"You're dressed like us too, kiddo!" Torako replied.

Sally looked down, and much to her surprise Torako was right. The black and purple dress she had first worn was gone, and now she was wearing a silk lavender dress and hat with a pearl necklace. On the side of her hat was a white feather and on her arms were long lavender gloves that were made out of the same material as her dress. And although Sally greatly admired the beauty of her new dress, it still didn't explain why the whole dining room had gone back in time.

"W-what…what's the purpose of this!" Sally sputtered.

Torako rolled her eye and flicked Sally on the forehead. "Ugh, don't you remember? Jack said that he was going to tell you the tale of 'Copa Cabana.'"

"Y-yes, I remember but what does that have to do with-"

"Ooh, it's starting!" Miss Notch chirped as she jumped up and down, pointing towards Jack who was standing in the center of the dance floor. He was wearing a white tuxedo with a black tie and buttons. On top of his head was a white top hat with a black band.

Next to him was Dr. Hoffman (full name: Julia Lola Hoffman) who was wearing a red dress with a slanted cut that started just above her knees and ended below them. At the bottom of her dress were yellow and green ruffles. She had red heels on and yellow feathers in her hair.

Jack cleared his throat, and prepared to tell his story…or rather sing it.

_Her name was Lola, she was a show girl._

_With yellow feathers in her hair, and a dress cut down to there._

_She'd do meringue, and do the cha-cha (_and as he mentioned those dance moves, the Dr. would begin to dance them).

_And while she tried to be a star, Tony always tended bar._

Jack then did a back flip that propelled him across the room, where he landed near the bar.

_Across the crowded floor, they worked from eight 'till four._

_They were young and they had each other._

_Who could ask for more?_

He then made his way back to Sally and led her to the dance floor, where the two of them danced the salsa; of course Jack wasn't finished with his story though. So he continued singing while they were dancing.

_At the Copa, Copa Cabana, the hottest spot north of Havana._

_Here at the Copa, Copa Cabaanaa, music and passion are always the fashion._

_At the Coopaa…They fell in love._

He then stopped dancing and gestured towards a young man sitting at the bar. And everything that was about to be told in his story, began to happen.

_His name was Rico, he wore a diamond._

_He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancing there._

_And when she finished, he called her over._

_But Rico took it bit too far, Tony sailed across the bar._

_And then the punches flew, and chairs were smashed in two._

_There was blood and a single gunshot, but just who shot who?_

_At the Copa, Copa Cabana, the hottest spot north of Havana._

_Here at the Copa, Copa Cabaanaa, music and passion are always the fashion._

_At the Coopaa… _(The Dr. then let out a terrified shriek) _she lost her love._

Torako and Miss Notch then got up from their tables and put Tony inside of a coffin hidden behind the bar as they sung the words "Copa Cabana." They would repeat the word, raising up half an octave each time, and then lowering, but instead saying "Music and passion…always in faaashiooonn…"

Jack then dug into his coat pocket and pulled out a little watch. He tossed it up in the air, and both of the hands on the watch began to spin faster and faster until the clock turned into a disco ball…and the club turned into a disco. Jack continued singing.

_Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl._

_But that was fifteen years ago, when they still had run a show._

_Now it's a disco, but not for Lola._

_Still in the dress she used to wear, faded feathers in her hair._

_She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half blind._

_She lost her youth and she lost her Tony, and now she's lost her mind._

_At the Copa, Copa Cabana, the hottest spot north of Havana._

_Here at the Copa, Copa Cabaanaa, music and passion are always the fashion._

_At the Coopaa… don't fall in love._

He then grabbed two forks and begun to tap them against some wine glasses, playing the rhythm he had played earlier. Once the glasses were filled, he tossed the sparkling juice up in the air, as everyone watched it swirl around the ceiling, and slowly transform the room. Taking away the chandelier, as well as the piano, the bar, the tables and even the people.

Once they were back in their regular dining room, the sparks swirled around everyone's bodies and turned their clothes back to normal and the room was filled with the excited chatter of the ice mansion tenants. The only one who didn't speak was Sally, she remained motionless with her eyes wide open (well, wider than they already were). Her motionless state was soon noticed by the others, and their conversations began to die down until there was absolute silence.

"Oh dear," Jack thought. "Maybe this was a bit much for her."

The Dr. sighed heavily and began to make her way over to Sally. "Come on, I'm sure a few sessions will straighten you out (hopefully)."

However, despite the light tugs on the arm, Sally wouldn't budge. The only movement she made was to open her mouth. And after a few seconds she shouted out "That was amazing!" (Doing so startled Dr. Hoffman however, and she ended up falling over).

Everyone sighed in relief; nothing was wrong with her after all. Jack pulled out a chair and gestured Sally towards it. "Shall we have dinner now?" He said.

….

After about half an hour had set in, the main topic was about Sally's progression through her "speech training." Although, Miss Notch was more engrossed in sketching a picture of Sally, so she could use it as a diagram when she began to make a puppet for her.

"It was really weird," Torako said, as she stole another piece of steak from the plate in the center of the table. "Some of the words were ones Sally already knew."

Jack immediately perked up from this remark and leaned in towards the dinner table a bit (this action was noticed by Dr. Hoffman and seemed to interest her). "Is this true?" Jack asked.

Sally cheerfully nodded. "Some of the words seemed familiar to me."

Torako patted Sally on the head. "Looks like your brain retained some memory. That's good though, now it won't be so hard to teach you." She then whipped her head around until her gaze met Miss Notch's. "Unlike _some_ people…"

Mayor looked nervously at Jack with a facial expression that conveyed the message "You see what's about to happen, right?"

However, Jack was in deep thought. "Good, Sally remembers some things. Hopefully her brain will continue to retain more memory until she remembers her past…" Jack continued his mental trance for several moments until it was interrupted by a pair of finger snapping in front of his skull.

It was the Dr., who was sitting next to him. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Jack nodded, and then began to follow Dr. Hoffman out of the dining room and into the hallway, completely unaware of the brawl going on between Torako and Miss Notch.

"Should we do something?" Sally asked Mayor.

He shook his head. "Nah, they do this all the time."

…..

"Interesting little show you put on today, Jack." Dr. Hoffman sneered.

Jack dipped his head in apology. "Look, Julia, I am sorry about that, but in a way you deserved. You were speaking disrespectfully about my family and I couldn't allow that to go any further."

The Dr. angrily growled. "Well, you know what? I don't care, no one deserves to actually re-live their worst moments in life!"

"You're right, I'm sorry. It won't happen again, I promise."

"You're darn right, it won't happen again! Because the next time it does happen, I'm going to tell everyone about Anastasia!"

Jack flinched; nothing could be more horrible than everyone knowing about her. It would make them question their trust and may cause some of them to flee the house, and who knows how Sally would take it. He couldn't run the risk of having The Dr. tell them. So to ensure her silence, he had to do something that sickened him to the very core of his bones. He had to bribe her, and he knew exactly how.

"You know, Julia, you've been looking a little pale lately."

Her anger quickly died down and turned to worry. Slightly panicked, Dr. Hoffman dug into her pocket and pulled out a small mirror, and to her dismay, Jack was right.

Jack smirked. "I suppose stolen vampire blood only has temporary effects."

This made her even more panicked. "H-how did you know..?"

Jack continued his sinister expression, although deep inside he felt terrible. "Good, its working" he thought. He then leaned his face close to her's until they were inches apart. "Barnabas, the vampire you tricked, told me all about it."

Dr. Hoffman pushed him away and clutched the stair rail for support. Her forehead was covered in small beads of sweat, and her breathing became heavy. "How… did you find…Barnabas..?"

"Oh, you didn't know? Barnabas and I are good friends. We often converse through letters, he has quite interesting things to say, you know. Especially, when he mentioned to me about a woman who tricked him into a blood transfusion. She told him that she could cure him from being a vampire, but she was really just using his own blood to give herself eternal beauty. Of course, she didn't know that she would soon be sent to the bottom of the ocean. Then again, that would explain why you arrived at my doorstep soaking wet."

The Dr. began to sink down to the floor, still clutching to the rail, and began to shake a bit. Jack couldn't take much more of it, he wanted to just shout out "I'm sorry for putting you through this" but nothing could worse than the news of Anastasia.

"I can cure your problem though." Jack said. Nervously, Dr. Hoffman turned head back and looked at Jack.

Her voice was nearly inaudible. "H-how..?"

"The same way you did, through a transfusion."

Dr. Hoffman began to calm down a bit. "But where did you get the…blood?"

"Josette had come across one of Barnabas' letters. After reading it, she took pity on you and sent over a pint."

The Dr. blinked curiously, before speaking in her usual rude way. "Who the heck is Josette?"

"Oh right, you're not familiar with that name. I believe her alias name was 'Vicky?"

"Oh, the nanny. She's a vampire now?"

Jack nodded, he would've also told her that Josette and Barnabas are married, but he didn't want to make things worse. He then extended his hand to Dr. Hoffman and helped her off the floor.

"I really am sorry about all this, Julia." Jack said.

"It's okay, I get it. I, uh…I shouldn't have made a threat like that." She then extended her hand out to Jack. "We're still friends, right?"

"Of course, and tomorrow once you're done with those sessions we'll start the transfusion."

The two of them began to make their way back into the dining room, only to find a mess.

Jack's skull was as red as a beet. "WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED HERE!"

Sally had her head hung down in guilt (even though she had nothing to do with it). "Torako and Miss Notch were fighting."

Jack slowly turned his head to the guilty pair; an ominous aura was filling the room. "Come here…you two…"

"Err, s-sorry monsieur Jack…"

"Y-yeah…c-calm down Jack…"

The night was soon spent with Jack chasing the two girls around the house, as Sally frantically followed behind them.

The Dr. sighed and took a sip from her drink and watched the chaos. "Man do I love those guys." And while she was busy watching the 'home entertainment' both she and Jack were completely unaware that someone had heard their conversation.

No one is safe from the secret.


	4. Unsophistacated answers

**Yay, ch. 4! In this chapter we get to join Dr. Hoffman in her hourly sessions and Miss Notch and Sally sing a song from "Bridesmaids!" **

**P.S. I changed one of the categories to humor because there are too many jokes in this fanfic for it to be a drama.**

**Now read on! WARNING: There's another cliffhanger.  
**

* * *

Chapter 4: Unsophisticated Answers

Torako flipped through the pages of the textbook in her hand; she was currently reviewing with Sally on her speech training.

"Okay, next word: Horrible. Pronounce the word and give me the definition."

"Horaball: Meaning-"

"Wait, how did you just pronounce that?"

"Horaball."

"Ugh, you sound like a foreign three-year-old. It's pronounced 'horrible.' Hor-ri-ble. Try it again."

"…Horrible…is that right?"

"Yeah, now give me the-"

"Torako."

Partially frustrated, Torako spun her head around and saw Dr. Hoffman standing in the doorway of her bedroom. This time she was wearing a black dress and heels with a white shirt underneath. Unlike the others, Dr. Hoffman would put on a fresh pair of clothes each day instead of wearing the same outfit for an extended number of days. She often prided herself as the "fashion queen" of the house.

However, Torako wasn't happy to be interrupted. She hated teaching Sally, not because she disliked her (but that was how she felt about Miss Notch), but because the lesson was very boring and tedious. Spending hours upon hours reading dictionaries and encyclopedias was the last way she'd want to spend her weekend. She wanted it be done as soon as possible so she could get back to more interesting things.

"What do you want!" Torako growled. "Can't you see I'm busy!"

Dr. Hoffman began to swish her "'scotch on the rocks" around in small circles and then took a sip. She didn't really care about how frustrated Torako was at the moment, mainly because she was always like that.

"Torako," she said. "It's time for your hourly sessions. Sally, you'll be in my office three hours from now, can you remember that?"

Sally nodded, and Dr. Hoffman patted her on the head before proceeding to drag Torako out of the room by her tail as she yelled and hissed behind her.

"Hey, let go of me! Geez, that hurts! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

The Dr. made her way out of the room proceeded to make her way out of the room before she was stopped mid-way when Sally called out to her.

"Wait," she said "what should I do now?"

The Dr. thought for a moment. Normally, she'd tell her to spend time with Jack, but he was busy working, so she told her to spend time with Miss Notch instead.

Sally nodded and made her way to Miss Notch's room, which was located on the other side of the second floor. She opened the door to a room with a main color scheme of red, pink and white.

It had a circular window that revealed the outside snow on the glacier and a circular pink rug with a red heart in the center of the floor. Next to the window was a pink canopy bed with pillows scattered on it. There were two tables as well. One looked very nice and had a white cover on it as well as some creepy dolls (although Miss Notch thought they were adorable). The other table was plain and wooden. The whole table was littered with wood shavings and at the moment, had a giant wooden block and a saw sitting on top of it. Above the table was cabinet with sewing supplies and all of the puppet replicas of everyone in the mansion (they were surprisingly accurate). Miss Notch was sitting at that table with a pair of work goggles on when she realized Sally's presence.

"Ooh," she chirped. "You're just in time mademoiselle!"

"For what?" Sally asked.

"I was just about to start working on your puppet, and I could really use your help."

Sally shut the door behind her. "How can I help?"

"Well, you see, I want to get this puppet done before I go have my sessions with Dr. Hoffman, but I won't be able to finish it within one hour. Even if I went fast I wouldn't have time to sew some clothes for it."

"So…would you like me to sew some clothes for it?"

Miss Notch nodded her head vigorously, adding a "Qui" between each nod, but she soon stopped when the realization came to her: Sally didn't know how to sew…or so she thought. Within a matter of seconds Sally had already begun to reach for the equipment in the cabinet above her and started cutting out some fabric as if she had been doing it all her life. It was clear to see that she knew what she doing (Miss Notch assumed that she had retained more memory). And on that note, Miss Notch began cutting the wood block.

…..

Meanwhile, back in Dr. Hoffman's office, things weren't as pleasant. Dr. Hoffman was sitting on a metal stool and holding a handful of cards; each one had a single word on it. Torako sat across from her on a red therapy couch.

"Okay Torako, I'm going to say a word and I want you to tell me the first word that comes to mind." Dr. Hoffman shuffled the cards for a moment and then pulled one out from the deck.

"Okay Torako, the first word is 'fat'."

Torako remained silent for a moment, as she lay on the red therapist couch, before responding. "Yo mama."

The Dr. sighed as she felt her patience thinning. "_One_ word, Torako."

"Oh…you."

Dr. Hoffman flashed a stern and deadly expression.

"Uh …something you'll…never be?" Torako replied sheepishly.

The Dr. gave a slightly satisfied smirk. "Hmph, that's better! Anyways, next word: Puff."

"You mean that thing from 'Ghost Busters?' "

"ONE WORD!"

"…Movie?"

The Dr. shook her head. She knew that she and Torako weren't intellectually matched. "There's no hope for you, is there?"

Torako gave her trademark smile (which looked similar to the way a witch smiled), and then said "We all know that I'm the trouble child in this family!"

….

The hour soon passed, and Torako never gave Dr. Hoffman a serious answer for any of the tests, but that was both expected and implied. Dr. Hoffman made her way to Miss Notch's room, with Torako following close behind. They both needed to retrieve someone from that room.

For Torako, she needed to get Sally and continue on her speech training (even though wasn't eager to do so). For Dr. Hoffman, it was Miss Notch; she needed her so they could begin the hourly session. Of course, neither of them expected to find both of their targets singing and dancing to the radio (and unfortunately for them, their backs were turned to the door).

"_Someday somebody's gonna make ya wanna turn around and say 'goodbye'. Until then baby are ya gonna let'em hold ya down and make ya cry? Don't you know, don't you know, things'll change, things'll go your way, if hold on, darlin', for one more_- OH CRAP! WHEN DID YOU TWO GET HERE!"

There was long moment of silence as everyone remained frozen staring at Miss Notch; they weren't expecting that kind of reaction from her. She seemed so sweet (and slightly annoying) that such an outburst wasn't implied.

Dr. Hoffman looked at Sally and Miss Notch as if they both needed a trip into her office more than they already did. "What were you two doing?"

Sally's eyes began to stare down at her feet as she shuffled them nervously. "A victory dance…"

"Because..?"

"…We finished the puppet within thirty minutes…"

The Dr. looked at the Sally puppet sitting on the table amongst various cloths, wood shavings and paints. It was nearly exact; all it was missing were the strings, but string installation was Jack's job (since he casted a spell on each string.

Torako looked at Sally. "Well, it's nice that you helped Miss Notch, but as far as Jack's concerned, you didn't hear that outburst from her." Sally nodded and followed Torako out of the room.

Dr. Hoffman looked at Miss Notch. "We can discuss that little outburst during your therapy session."

….

Dr. Hoffman rummaged through her drawer before taking out a wide piece of paper. She held it out to Miss Notch. "Now, Miss Notch, tell me what you think this ink blotch looks like."

Miss Notch held her hand up to her chin and gave a thoughtful "hmmm" before responding. "It looks like a…puppet frog with a crown and a phoenix on top of it."

The Dr. remained absolutely frozen for a few minutes before slapping herself across the face in an attempt to get rid of the dumbstruck look on her face. "W-well…it's good that you…are imaginative, but…you need to stop being so fixated on puppets. Here, I'll show you another card, and this time I want you to see it in a way that doesn't have to do with puppets."

The Dr. held out another card. "Oh!" Miss Notch exclaimed. "That one looks like Bat Man!" Dr. Hoffman slumped her shoulders.

"Well…that's a start… (but I have no idea how this looks like Bat Man…it looks more like a man whose weight fell victim to McDonald's…like my uncle)."

….

Yet again, another hour passed although Miss Notch was more focused and more successful than Torako. Although, occasionally she'd answer a question with the word 'puppet' involved, but she'd quickly correct herself. And as a reward, Dr. Hoffman gave her a slice of chocolate cake from her secret sweets stash (something Jack didn't know about).

After Miss Notch was dismissed, Dr. Hoffman made her way to Mayor's room. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of Mayor. He was, in a way, creepy. He'd spend his days locked in his room doing who-knows-what, with the shades drawn. Out of all of them, he was the most unstable. Although, the Dr. had a hypothesis for that; it may have been because he was the only one who had a problem _before_ Jack had come.

Hesitantly, Dr. Hoffman watched herself reach for the silver doorknob in its reflection. In her mind, she prayed that Sally would never see this side of him, but she knew that one day she would.

The door opened slowly to a world submerged in the shadows, creaking loudly. Dr. Hoffman couldn't see anything, but she could here Mayor's voice.

"Is it time already?" He asked.

"Yes it is." Dr. Hoffman replied, she then heard Mayor grunt as he stood up and walked toward the door. As soon as she saw a part of him in the light of the doorway, she backed away a bit.

Mayor noticed the Dr.'s cautious actions, and was somewhat annoyed by them. "Can we just get this hour over with?"He said.

….

Dr. Hoffman shuffled a deck of cards in her hands. "Okay Mayor, you know how this works; say the first word that comes to mind, okay?"

Mayor nodded.

"First word: socks."

"Pairs."

Dr. Hoffman had a sad look on her face; he had hardly made any progress in changing. Nevertheless, she continued the session without correcting in hopes of seeing him correct himself.

"Okay, next word: bribe."

Dr. Hoffman had a feeling that it would take Mayor a few minutes to come up with an answer since "bribe" didn't have to do with 2. But he actually answered her very fast, and his answer was much unexpected.

"Blood."

Dr. Hoffman felt as if her feeling of security was draining. "Why blood? No one bribes with blood."

Mayor stared at her with a stern and serious face. "Except for you and Jack!"


End file.
